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Errant thought from June 13:
The world keeps seeming more and more dystopian. But it is really amazing to be able to ask a computer complex things in natural language, and get back coherent, valid responses in natural language too. My mind often glosses over that wonder because of everything else going on. And also because of knowing that wonderful achievement has its own associated dystopian aspects to it, which will just get worse and worse as they are exploited.

.

Like this: The AI Slop Fight Between Iran and Israel

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Kids growing up now and in the future may find it difficult to believe actual photos and movie footage from past atrocities, including the Holocaust. They will have no way to trust that the images are real and were not generated by AI. Perhaps if they looked through an old book with photos, and could trust that it was published in the year it said it was, before AI was capable of what it is now, perhaps that would be believable to them. But books are becoming rarer, especially old ones. Old books didn't have many photos. Were there many books with photos of atrocities? Encyclopedias would have perhaps a few photos for each topic. Certain magazines were more likely to have extensive photos. There may be digitized versions of the books and magazines available online, but then you get back to how can you trust that the digitized item you're looking at isn't a fake?

I'm already at that distrusting stage with much of what I see online. When you don't know what is trustworthy, you end up choosing to believe the things which align with your already-formed beliefs. "This aligns with my beliefs; I don't know if it is true, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was." "This doesn't align with my beliefs; why spend time and mental effort considering that it might be true when it very well might not be?"

curiosity kills me

Saturday, January 20th, 2024 02:51 am
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How I can go from just looking up when the Notre Dame Cathedral fire was (2019!), to looking/reading about gargoyles, grotesques, a rooster reliquary which "miraculously" survived, the Last Judgement, the Babylonian Talmud, Babylon...
and what makes a church a cathedral.

The Last Judgement part was the longest read and left me wondering if Christians believe someone can to to Heaven after death but then end up consigned to Hell after the Last Judgement. So then I looked up that, and ended up reading various people's inconsistent and contrasting beliefs on that and similar topics on Quora. Ugh.

That is not how I wanted to spend the last two and a half hours, dang it.
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Coloring the Past
Using recent breakthroughs in photo editing techniques, Eli colorizes, restores, and digitizes photos from queer and trans history. The following images are originally from 1897-1973. After noticing how much more responsive audiences are to color photos, Eli decided to work on these amazing moments from queer and trans history. During a time when politicians can openly argue trans people did not exist until 2015, it is important to use reminders like these that we have always been here. ...
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Yay, it's the weekend, and I finished my work for work before midnight today!

It's been very much Spring here the last couple weeks.
Daffodils are yellow.
Pink magnolia blossoms bloomed but they're already gone and replaced by small light green leaves.
Yellow jessamine is yellow.
Bradford pear blossoms are pungent.
Little fig tree leaves are light green and fuzzy.
I wore knee-shorts today and sat outside working for a while. Can do that for now still as the mosquitos aren't out in force yet.

..

Catchy headline: Busted Plug Towed Away

I didn't know the giant fire hydrant art installation was called "Busted Plug". I'm saddened to hear it's been moved away... but hopefully it will be put up somewhere else in a good spot.

It had been here since 2001: Busted Plug Plaza, in the same parking lot as the iconic Tunnelvision mural and the haybales mural. I enjoyed seeing it whenever I drove downtown.

Here's a short video showing it from multiple angles: Roadside Buzz - Busted Plug, Columbia, SC
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This "Ra Obelisk" is an artwork here in town I'd not heard of nor visited before. About the hieroglyphs painted on the sides, the article states:
Some of the symbols translate to the titles of Beatles songs “Here Comes the Sun” and “All You Need is Love.” The artist would not give the meaning to the message on the right side, only saying it was an ancient concept and invited others to try to translate it.

That prompted me to try deciphering the right side. The best I could come up with is this:
Peace | The angels are real | They love you

I am not certain that is the message the artist intended; I didn't find a decipherment of the message posted anywhere on the web. I did find that the artist, Richard Lane, died in 1998. That is mentioned in this booklet: Sarah Leverette : South Carolina lawyer, teacher, mentor, ground breaker.

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Another catchy headline: “Flying car” company to enter US market in partnership with Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE)

"Salad Days"

Wednesday, September 15th, 2021 09:41 pm
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The song "Gold" by Spandau Ballet includes this line in its lyrics:
These are my salad days

The term "salad days" was not familiar to me, but there's a whole Wikipedia article about it. It says:

The phrase was coined in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra in 1606. In the speech at the end of Act One in which Cleopatra is regretting her youthful dalliances with Julius Caesar she says:
...My salad days, / When I was green in judgment, cold in blood/To say as I said then!

The phrase became popular only from the middle of the 19th century, coming to mean "a period of youthful inexperience or indiscretion." The metaphor comes from Cleopatra's use of the word 'green' — presumably meaning someone youthful, inexperienced, or immature. Her references to "green" and "cold" both suggest qualities of salads.


I don't know why, but it strikes me as odd, to think of Ancient Egyptians eating salad. But then, Cleopatra cavorted with Ancient Romans. Did Ancient Romans eat salads? Apparently so.

Bon Appetit Wednesday! An Ancient Roman Salad:
Romans loved salads. Columella’s writings suggest the Romans were much like we are today in their search for delicious and inventive salad combinations.[2] A main ingredient in all of these recipes was salt. In fact, the word salad comes from the Latin word sal, meaning salt.

According to the next articles, Ancient Egyptians domesticated lettuce. But they also considered it an aphrodisiac (or they didn't, depending on the article).

Watch out the Egyptian salad. Lettuce in Ancient Egypt: a ‘sexy vegetable’ and its usages

Lettuce and Kings: The Power Struggle Between Horus and Set

Ancient Egyptian Sexuality: Life in Ancient Egypt

... there I am getting dragged down a winding path of topics from where I started.

Going back to the Shakespeare Cleopatra line, it's neat how it is a double (or more) metaphor. Green is a metaphor for youth; coldness (temperature) is a metaphor for coldness (lack of emotion). And then salad, being green and cold, becomes another metaphor for youth and/or coldness.

Update, 2021/09/29:
The ancient Egyptian depictions of lettuce shown on the above link don't look much like modern day lettuce.

But today I came across a lettuce variety which does look somewhat similar to the Egyptian depictions:
Celtuce (also known as "stem lettuce".
Celtuce: A Stocky Stem Lettuce From China (video)

Mississippi Goddam

Sunday, July 11th, 2021 03:51 pm
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"Mississippi Goddam" by Nina Simone
Recording session: Live in Antibes, July 24-25, 1965.



Video title: Nina Simone: Mississippi Goddam
Posted by: Aaron Overfield
Date posted: Feb 26, 2013

Manipur

Sunday, July 4th, 2021 07:00 pm
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Manipur - one of the eastern-most states of India, on the border with Myanmar.
Meitei - a language and ethnic group of people in that region.
Sanamahism - a religion in that region.

The history of India is so extensive. I don't remember learning any of it in school, except perhaps a brief mention of the East India Company and Gandhi. I wonder if they teach much more of it in British primary schools?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_integration_of_India
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princely_state
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Raj
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mughal_Empire


Manipuri dance, a traditional dance form, has some quite unusual-looking dresses:



Video title: Manipuri classical dance Basanta Raas
Posted by: WildFilmsIndia
Date posted: Feb 3, 2016

Pauli Murray

Thursday, January 21st, 2021 09:38 pm
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MY NAME IS PAULI MURRAY - Sundance Film Festival: Columbia

Overlooked by history, Pauli Murray was a legal trailblazer whose ideas influenced RBG's fight for gender equality and Thurgood Marshall's landmark civil rights arguments. Featuring never-before-seen footage and audio recordings, a portrait of Murray's impact as a non-binary Black luminary: lawyer, activist, poet, and priest who transformed our world.


The "non-binary" descriptor caught my attention. While we can only guess what currently-used descriptors someone in the past might have used for themself, and I'm not familiar with Pauli's own writings, the Wikipedia page on Pauli Murray describes them more as a trans-man than a non-binary person.

I'm curious to watch the movie, but it doesn't appear to be available yet through streaming, and I don't feel like going to the Sundance showing at the local theater. It sounds like that will be indoors, with social distancing and mask wearing.

.

Biden wastes no time shooting down Trump guidelines on LGBTQ rights

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The cassette from 1972 still plays fine! I remember now that my mom played me some of it at her house, which is when I asked to borrow it in order to record to my computer. I was able to record & save the audio from both cassettes today by means of a better-working cassette player and Qiao's desktop computer. Now I want to ask my mom if she has any more old family cassettes like that.

48 years ago before I was even born, my relatives' voices still sounded the same as I remember from my childhood. Only one of them, I didn't recognize; her voice was slightly different than I remembered. All the relatives who spoke on that cassette have passed away over the years, except one aunt who is my mom's age

100 years ago, one of my grandmothers hadn't even been born yet. That seems sort of amazing; somehow 100 years doesn't sound so long ago right now. That might be because I was reading about the flu pandemic of 1918. My grandma was born in Boston in 1920. The family tree records I'd downloaded a few years ago show that one of her uncles died in October 1918, of "influenza pneumonia", after being sick for 9 days. Of the other 12 death entries on that page, 8 others were also from influenza and/or pneumonia.

Kazakh

Saturday, August 3rd, 2019 02:15 am
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This Kazakh music video is both visually and audibly (the sound of the Kazakh language) intriguing to me, even though I don't like the scenes of war and fighting. From what I've been able to find, it was made in honor of Kazakhstan's 550th anniversary. The music group is named Gauhartas.



Video title: Гаухартас- "Казагым-ай" (клип 2015) (Gauhartas "Kazagim-ay")
Posted by: Айганым Баймуратова
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FlBCJbb2oo
Date posted: Oct 23, 2015


Here are the lyrics along with an English translation. Some of the translation does not make much sense, and Google Translate seems to do a better job for those parts.

Some things I learned after watching the video:
Kazakhstan has a small ethnic group of Germans.
The Volga Germans were ethnic Germans who settled in a region of Russia in the 18th century.
About 100,000 ethnic Germans from Russia immigrated to the U.S. by 1900.
During WW2, the Soviet Union deported all of the Volga Germans (over 900,000) to camps in Siberia and Kazakhstan as a "preventive measure". A third of them died during the deportation.
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I have this problem where I often spend too much time on certain activities, or researching certain subjects. More time than I had wanted, intended or planned for. Often, I hadn't planned to do the activity at all.

When this happens, I feel driven to continue the activity until completion, or until some point at which I am satisfied enough to stop. Usually, a part of me remembers that I had other plans, and am using up too much of my spare time for no good reason, and wants me to stop. But that's usually a small voice in the background of my mind, and not enough to actually make me stop.

.

Like this evening... I have a few boxes of old stale peanut butter crackers which I should either eat up or discard. They don't taste that great, so I haven't been eating them much. But I hate to waste "good" food. So I wonder, is it bad from a health standpoint, to eat stale peanut butter? If it is, that would be enough to convince me to throw them away.

I did a web search, and came across an old book from 1918 that says:
"When stale, peanut butter develops a decomposition substance known as acrolein, which is dangerous to children as well as adults".

I found no other sources which mention the same thing, so I don't suggest you take that statement as truth. I'm still not sure whether stale peanut butter is bad for you.

However, I was looking through the rest of the first book, and it is fascinating in a historical sense. I've spent way too much time reading through it.

The Science of Eating: How to Insure Stamina, Endurance, Vigor, Strength and Health in Infancy, Youth and Age - by Alfred W. McCann

100 years ago, there was the same concern as nowadays, about lack of nutrition in processed foods due to vitamins, minerals, and fiber having being stripped out. There was concern over high levels of glucose, sugar, and chemical additives. There was concern about cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis being caused by the substandard nutrition provided by those foods.

100 years ago was before processed foods started being fortified with vitamins and minerals.

It's interesting how the drafts for World War I and II played into this. Apparently, people in high places were concerned when large percentages of draftees were rejected due to being unfit. It's not necessarily that they were concerned about the health of people, but that they wanted to have an adequate supply of healthy men for the military.

..

The rye bread I've been eating lately lists "wheat flour" and "rye flour" as ingredients. I wondered if "wheat flour" means whole wheat flour or white flour. It means the latter; I should have realized that, since the label actually says "enriched wheat flour". But the rye flour is just listed as "rye flour".

The Hoax of "Enriched Wheat Flour"
A “wheat flour” or “enriched wheat flour” ingredient is technically no different than white flour. Manufacturers take whole-grain wheat, strip out 11 vitamins and minerals, then add synthetic chemicals that represent only four vitamins and one mineral.

Here’s the nutritional math: Whole-grain wheat – 11 nutrients + 5 nutrients = “Enriched”


..

4 hours later. Heck, I'm just going to throw those crackers away and be done with it.
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From the Jackson Criterion (Nebraska), Apr 13, 1899:

Estrayed on to my premises, about three miles west of Goodwin on or about March 15th, one iron gray mare about five years old, weighing about 1050 pounds. Owner will please prove property, pay charges and take same away. Cost of advertising this notice to be paid at the Criterion office. J.S. Clauson.
..

Andrew Anderson has completed his new dwelling house and has the most beautiful and comfortable home in the precinct.

Miss Hannah Casey who has been visiting friends here the past week, returned to her home at Waterbury, Wednesday.

Sarah Casey, Mamie Curran, Julia Manau and Mary Nichols have returned to Sioux City after spending Easter here.

While Geo. Monger was shooting at some geese the gun bursted, but lucky did no harm, only a few bruises on George's hand.

Mrs. Thos. Curran and sister, Mrs. Jno. O'Neill, visited their mother Mrs. Casey of Waterbury a few days the forepart of the week.

John H. Martin of Pender visited here a few days ago. Mr. Martin said his son W.C. was at his home in Pender at present, and feeling very good, but will have to undergo an operation in two weeks for appendicitis.

Milton McTaggard who has purchased the James Crohen farm has moved here from Iowa onto it. Mr. McTaggard four years ago was a resident of this place, and we feel happy to have him back again.

Every potato will slyly wink its eye, every beet will get red in the face, every onion will feel stronger, every oat field will be shocked, the rye will stroke its beard, the corn will stick up its ear and every foot of land will kick over the out come of the new school district.



I wondered if that last bit was from a poem. It seems to have been a newspaper meme.

The Dalles weekly chronicle, Oregon
Oct. 16, 1891
https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2003260222/1891-10-16/ed-1/seq-4.pdf

In Kansas mile after mile of side track is filled with cars loaded with wheat awaiting a chance to get into the markets. This fact seems to quiet the prating of those fellow who have been telling about the mortgages which these farmers couldn't pay. The Kansas papers seem to be having a picnic over these reports. It has gone thus far up to date:

When alliance orators talk about Kansas starving to death, every individual potato winks its eye. -State Journal.
And every stalk of corn pricks up its ears. -Wichita Eagle.
And every cabbage nods its head. -Lawrence Journal.
And every beet gets red in the face. -Clay Center Times.
And every squash crooks its neck. -Clyde Argus.
And every onion grows stronger. -Clifton Review.
And every fruit tree groans under its load. -Minneapolis Commercial.
And every field of wheat is shocked. -Leavenworth Times


Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen's Magazine, Volume 16, 1892
https://books.google.com/books?id=kyEqAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13

And the rye strokes its beard. -Philadelphia Press.
And every corn aches. -Millstone.
And every foot of land kicks. -Chicago Tribune.
And railroad stock bellows for more water.


The Rural New-Yorker, Volume 51, 1892
https://books.google.com/books?id=OjhHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA485&lpg=PA485

And the rye strokes is beard. -Farm Journal
And the egg plant gets purple with rage, the celery turns pale -- the cucumber only keeps cool.

slavery

Wednesday, March 28th, 2018 12:30 am
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Retracing Slavery's Trail of Tears : America's forgotten migration – the journeys of a million African-Americans from the tobacco South to the cotton South
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Hearing reports about the current opioid epidemic has always made me wonder how bad it is compared to the crack and cocaine epidemics in the 1980s and 90s. So I found some graphs with statistics.

Drug Epidemics: Now and Then - the 3rd graph shows the overdose death rates from 1970 to 2005. The rates increased about 700% during that time, while the first 2 graphs show that it continued to increase steeply since then.
Unlike the current opioid epidemic – which has captured our attention due to the number of overdoses – deaths directly associated with crack ingestion were minimal. Overdose deaths associated with crack did increase from the early 80’s to the early 90’s, but the numbers pale in comparison to opioid overdoses today. It was the indirect effects of crack that proved to be so devastating.
...
The consequence was significantly increased homicides, particularly in adolescents. Plus, strict new drug laws plucked inner-city residents from their homes and communities and sent them to jail for many years, making it even more difficult for the families left behind. This also made it hard to integrate back into society following a felony drug charge. Taken together with actual drug overdoses, it’s likely that the crack epidemic cost as many lives if not more than what society is witnessing today with the opioid epidemic.


Drug Deaths in America Are Rising Faster Than Ever - has a graph showing drug overdose deaths from 1980 to 2016.

Homicide trends in the United States - lots of graphs and statistics about homicides in the U.S. between 1976 and 2005. Homicide rates spiked up during the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and have mostly decreased since then. (Unfortunately, the links in the PDF don't seem to work.)

Crime in the United States (1995–2014) - a table showing reduction in violent crime during that time period.

So in summary, in the 70s, 80s, and 90s there weren't that many overdoses, but were a lot of homicides, many of which were gang and drug-related. Whereas now, there are about half as many homicides, but way more overdose deaths.

quarters

Sunday, August 27th, 2017 11:19 pm
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I noticed that one of my quarters has an image of Frederick Douglass on the back. It's a 2017 quarter, and I hadn't seen this design before. It used to be news when new currency designs came out; now it seems to happen without any fanfare at all. (Although, as I'm not able to keep up with the news, maybe it's just me.)

Curiously, the Frederick Douglass design isn't part of a series of important American people, but rather "America the Beautiful" - national parks and sites. This series has been going on since 2010, with 5 new designs each year. I have seen some of the others, but hadn't realized there were so many different designs.
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I had never heard about this before. The first piece on it which I read this evening left me thinking it must be a fake story. But unfortunately, like most things about human history, it's not fake.

Tulsa, 1921 - 1921 article by Walter White for The Nation

TULSA RACE RIOT - Oklahoma Historical Society

A Report by the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 - a very detailed report from 2001, with photos, which I haven't had time to read.

Wikipedia article - Summary:
The Tulsa race riot, or Tulsa race riot of 1921, occurred between May 31–June 1, 1921, when a white mob started attacking residents and businesses of the African-American community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in what is considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in the history of the United States. The attack, carried out on the ground and by air, destroyed more than 35 blocks of the district, at the time the wealthiest black community in the nation. More than 800 people were admitted to hospitals and more than 6,000 black residents were arrested and detained, many for several days. The Oklahoma Bureau of Vital Statistics officially recorded 39 dead, but the American Red Cross estimated 300, a number supported by historians since then.
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The Iko-Iko song played on my MP3 player in random mode, and I got curious about the lyrics again ("jshakomo finale..." etc.). I had looked them up in the past, and thought I had even posted something about them. But I didn't find said post... maybe whatever post I was thinking of was about some other song.

So I looked up the lyrics again. This is how the next half hour of my browser history goes, starting from the bottom. Is this how other people's web browsing goes?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sri_Lankan_monarchs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanj
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka_Kaffirs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro_Asians_(African_Asians)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroon_(people)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obeah
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodoo_(folk_magic)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candombl%C3%A9
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_African_Vodun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawdy_Miss_Clawdy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iko_Iko
https://www.google.com/search?q=iko+lyrics&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

That's without even yet searching on the 10 or more versions of the song mentioned on the first Wikipedia page, as I'm curious how they all sound.

There's a lot about world history and African religions that I'm not very familiar with. Things that I've maybe heard about a few times, but not enough to remember many details.

.

Below is an hour of my browser history from 10 days ago, when I looked up the protocols on the flag being flown at half mast, and progressed to reading about Mormons. That's another bit of history and religion I'm not very familiar with. Golden Plates!?! (Coincidentally, this week I heard a co-worker talking to someone else about his trip to Utah, and how he met with some Mormons and discussed their religion.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker%E2%80%93Fancher_party
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_massacre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exaltation_(Mormonism)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealing_(Mormonism)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riding_the_rail
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asahel_Lathrop
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_pole
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam-ondi-Ahman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bug,_Arizona
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Young
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirtland_Safety_Society
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urim_and_Thummim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urim_and_Thummim_(Latter_Day_Saints)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eschatology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Mormon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_Christ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apologetics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_plates
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burned-over_district
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1838_Mormon_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilburn_Boggs
https://www.google.com/search?q=lilburn+boggs+ordered+mormons+to+be+killed
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/283330-former-gop-senator-endorses-clinton-after-orlando-shooting
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/06/14/3788497/cole-county-missouri-flag-orlando-shooting/
http://www.usflag.org/nff.half.staff.html
http://halfstaff.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dag_Hammarskj%C3%B6ld
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-mast
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Below was 2 hours back in March, when I looked up a reference someone had made to "Mrs. Prothero" in a comment, started reading about Dylan Thomas, and ended up fascinated by the idea of an actual real-life "War of the Golden Stool" (how Indiana Jones like!), including an African queen fighting against the British.

"Where is the Golden Stool? I am the representative of the Paramount Power. Why have you relegated me to this ordinary chair? Why did you not take the opportunity of my coming to Kumasi to bring the Golden Stool for me to sit upon?"

Not understanding the significance of the stool, Hodgson clearly had no inkling of the storm his words would produce; the suggestion that he, a foreigner, should sit upon and defile the Golden Stool, the very embodiment of the Ashanti state, and very symbol of the Ashanti peoples, living, dead, and yet to be born, was far too insufferable for the crowd. Almost immediately, the queen mother of the Ejisu dominion within the Ashanti kingdom, Yaa Asantewaa, collected men to form a force with which to attack the British and retrieve the exiled king.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaa_Asantewaa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Golden_Stool
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Gold_Coast_Map_1896.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Ashanti_wars#/media/File:Gold_Coast_Map_1896.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Ashanti_wars#Fourth_Anglo-Ashanti_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Anglo-Ashanti_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Beatrice_of_the_United_Kingdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert,_Prince_Consort#/media/File:Queen_Victoria_Prince_Albert_and_their_nine_children.JPG
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert,_Prince_Consort
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Matrimonial
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_consort
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jure_uxoris
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish-Lithuanian_Commonwealth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeronwy_Thomas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeronwy_Thomas-Ellis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarianism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Thomas
http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/xmas.html
https://www.google.com/search?q=prothero#q=mrs+prothero
https://www.google.com/search?q=prothero
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It goes like this:

Last night:
Check TV guide to see what's on TV.
PBS is showing "1916 - The Irish Rebellion. The story of the Easter Rising rebellion...."
Do a search on something related to that. Irish Volunteers, etc.
Skim various pages.
Start wondering if the U2 song "Bloody Sunday" refers to the Easter Rising.
Do a search.
Oh. There are a whole bunch of Bloody Sundays.
One of them: Stanislawow Ghetto Bloody Sunday massacre, a massacre of 10,000 to 12,000 Jews before the Stanisławów Ghetto announcement.
Read about horrors.
Ghettos, concentration camps, mass killings, mass graves.
Click links; read about more horrors.

I never can wrap my mind around it. In a way, I don't want to. That's why I try to avoid the topic. But for my own sanity, I want to understand it. How could such things happen? How could people come to commit such atrocities? I'm terrified of it happening again. I'm terrified that it is happening, constantly around the world, in smaller versions. How can I be safe? How can I be sure that I'd never be involved in such a thing? What control do I have over the things my government is doing? Am I really any different from the average German civilian back then?

And it also puzzles me, in reading some things, as to why the victims didn't fight back more? Some parts I can understand. If soldiers come for you and your family with guns, yes, you're likely to do what they say rather than to be shot to death right there. Maybe going where they tell you to go, will let you survive in the end.

But I have a hard time understanding the mass shootings. Surely it can't be that 10,000 people would stand together in a crowd, letting themselves be shot to death, for hours on end, as some of those articles imply? Surely they would have surged forward against the shooters, knowing that death was imminent anyway? Were the shooters up on walls? Wouldn't piles of dead bodies would have gotten in the way of further shooting? Did the shooters take breaks so that the bodies could be moved out of the way? Were the Jews so starved and demoralized by that point, that they welcomed death? Who would want to remain living in a world like that?

And it wasn't only Jews being killed. There were mass killings of ethnic Poles too, by both the Nazis and the Soviets. And masses of people being deported to Soviet labor camps. How could mass killings be so common back then? How could people so callously disregard life? Was it a state of mind? That to have revolutions and change society, you need to kill the existing society that stands in your way?

The German side of my family came from the area right near Poland, so that's another reason I'm often drawn to reading about these kinds of things.

After over an hour of that, I managed to make myself to switch gears, and return to doing my taxes.

Today:

Read an email about local events.
One event is "South Carolina survivors and victims of the Holocaust".
Am reminded of that first page I read last night. I bring up the page again, and read it again. Again trying to wrap my mind around it. Yesterday wasn't the first time I'd read those kinds of things. But as many times as I read them, it seems I'll never be able to come to terms with them.

Clicked some other links related to the history of Germany before World War II. Republic, unification, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdoms, duchies... All of history seems to be full of wars and fighting and horrors. I've always hated history.

Here I sit, in my peaceful house, in front of my computer. Relatively clean, fed, clothed, and warm. Even if I'm not particularly enjoying life, it's not particularly bad.

But the world is full of horrors, and I'm quietly terrified that someday they will strike me personally, and this relatively peaceful world will be blown to bits.

book

Tuesday, March 1st, 2016 11:36 pm
darkoshi: (Default)
An uncle* of mine has written a book/memoir of his life:
The Kraut: On Being German after 1940

He was born in Germany, grew up in the U.K., and emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 17.

I've been reading it during my lunch times, in between walking** and eating. Some of it is rather dark, topic-wise, and some of it is hard to follow. But it's quite interesting.

It's available on Kindle or as a paperback, if anyone is curious about it.

* My mom's half-sister's cousin's husband's first wife's son.

** I've increased my walking circuit by about 10 minutes. My pedometer indicates I'm now getting up to about 8000 steps per day doing so.
darkoshi: (Default)
I like the implication of the pronoun on this mailing.

"Our next president will face many challenges and difficult decisions. But they will also inherit our nation's proud legacy of helping those in need."

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